SUPER BOWL 2018 : SONY on counterattack against Samsung and LG for North American TV markets.

SONY X900F| LED | 4K Ultra HD | High Dynamic Range (HDR) | Smart TV (Android TV)

Competitions within North American TV markets are becoming more fierce as ‘Super Bowl’, which is the biggest sports event in the U.S., is set to take place after two weeks. While Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, which are competing against each other for first and second places based on market shares, SONY is planning on a counterattack against them. 

As number of consumers who want to enjoy sports events on large-screen TVs is increasing, it is likely that TVs that are bigger than 60 inches will be established as ‘trends’ during this peak season for TVs.

According to industries on the 22nd, an influential consumer media called Consumer Reports recently selected top 10 best TV models for Super Bowl. This ranking had four of LG Electronics’ products including its OLED TV called ‘LG OLED 65W7P’, three of Samsung Electronics’ products including its QLED TV called ‘QN65Q7C’, and three of SONY’s products including its OLED TV called ‘BraviaXBR-65A1E’.

‘Super Bowl’, which is the finals for American football, is the biggest sports event in the U.S. It was calculated that 111.3 million people watched last year’s Super Bowl. Based on market shares that looked for how many viewers who had their TVs turned on and watched last year’s Super Bowl, 72% of them watched last year’s Super Bowl.

Number of demands from consumers who are trying to enjoy Super Bowl comfortably at home is focused in January and it is one of the busiest seasons for TV manufacturers. According to an American retail market research company called Gap Intelligence, discount rate of TVs within two weeks before Super Bowl is the second highest followed by Black Friday. It was found out that TV manufacturers sold their TVs on 22% discount during Super Bowl season.

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have been working on their market shares by targeting this time around when number of demands for TVs soars due to Super Bowl. It is likely that they will carry out various discounts and marketing just like last year. It is expected that they will also carry out unprecedented promotions in order to clear out current inventories before they release their new 2018 TVs.

One thing to notice during this year’s Super Bowl is that SONY has also joined competitions with Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics that are in the lead. SONY’s influence has gotten stronger recently within North American TV markets as Consumer Report, which has more than 7 million subscribers, selected three of SONY’s products as top 10 best TV models for Super Bowl.

SONY has been threatening South Korean TV manufacturers by putting out premium OLED TVs since last year. “SONY has been threatening market shares of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.” said a representative for a TV industry. “SONY will try to revive itself through aggressive marketing strategies during this Super Bowl season.” 

After a market research company called IHS analyzed market shares of TVs that cost more than $1,500 during the first quarter of 2017, SONY’s market shares (39%) more than doubled compared to previous quarter and was placed number one.

High-quality TVs that have large screens are also keywords that run through Super Bowl. Majority of industries agree that many consumers are looking for large-screen TVs that are bigger than 60 inches even if they are expensive in order to enjoy realistic sports events. 

Actually 9 of 10 models selected by Consumer Reports are all 65-inch TVs and only one of them was 60-inch TV. Although 60-inch TVs are currently responsible for only 15% of market shares, it is expected that this value will grow by a lot due to Super Bowl.

“Demands for large-screen TVs have something in common with strategies of South Korean premium TV manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.” said a representative for a TV industry. 

“It is likely that booming of TV markets will continue as global sports events such as Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and Russia World Cup are also scheduled to take place this year.”

Q3 2017:

The average size of a TV shipped in Q3 2017 increased 1.7 percent to 42.1 inches, although when combined with the much reduced price erosion, helped TV revenues increase year-over-year for the first time in three years. The growth of 4K also contributed to the positive revenue result, with 4K mix increasing to 35 percent of units and 64 percent of revenues.

On a brand basis, due to the poor demand results in China, Chinese TV brands have been aggressively pursuing more business overseas, IHS Markit says. Hisense and TCL both significantly increased market share worldwide due to strong growth outside of China. 

Samsung and LG Electronics are the top TV brands on a unit and revenue share basis worldwide, but TCl and Hisense have risen to numbers three and four respectively, both increasing share from a year ago to their highest TV shipment share yet. Samsung and LGE each also led on a revenue basis, while Sony grew its revenue share at number three to the highest level since 2011 on growing premium TV sales, including OLED TV.

China and North America TV Shipments Fall Sharply in Q3 2017, IHS Markit Says

ETnews.

Ericsson deploys its first LTE network in North America

Ericsson Inc. (ERIC) supplied the network equipment for MetroPCS Communications Inc.'s LTE rollout in the Dallas area.

The operator is offering services on one device, the Samsung Craft, a dual-mode handset that operates on the carrier's CDMA and LTE networks. MetroPCS deployed LTE services last week in Las Vegas, using network equipment from Samsung Telecommunications America.

Ericsson said its network equipment for MetroPCS was a custom solution that allows MetroPCS to reuse a substantial part of its existing infrastructure.

In an interview with Thomas Noren, head of Product Line LTE at Ericsson, Noren said the company upgraded MetroPCS's transmission to the base station site "so we are now using an Ericsson solution for the transmission that is common for both CDMA and LTE. You can use one transport network and share the bandwidth and get synergies from using the same IP connectivity for both technologies so this is future-proof and a very sustainable solution that offers synergies and simplifies network management. It lowers costs. It simplifies the network."

Ericsson is supplying the end-to-end solution for MetroPCS -- its RBS 6000 base station, which supports LTE and GSM-based protocols; its IP-RAN, which allows MetroPCS to operate its CDMA and LTE networks over a common connection, its Evolved Packet Core; and network services.

"We also have deployed our EPC, our state-of-the-art gateway thats based on a true IP platform as well as our MME (Mobility Management Entity)," Noren said. "They basically bought the entire end-to-end solution from Ericsson ... It's up to Ericsson to make sure things work end to end and we certainly take that responsiblity." Noren noted that by using one equipment vendor, MetroPCS launched faster because the carrier didnt need to worry about interoperability testing between network vendors.

Noren, who holds the distinction as the world's first LTE customer, said TeliaSonera, which deployed the world's first LTE network in Norway and Sweden, said TeliaSonera is seeing download speeds of 40 to 50 megabits per second. "The performance is very, very good."

Ericsson said it expects to own 25% of the essential patents for LTE, making it the largest patent holder in the industry.